Monday, June 11, 2012

Elisha Spencer is one of the direct relatives of our family that I am currently trying to find more information on. He was born 227 years ago today on 11 June 1785 in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. He was married to Elizabeth Wagner (or Wagoner) on 9 November 1806 in Huntingdon County.

Some others have done some research on him, and there is apparently a family Bible record that is out there that has those dates of birth and marriage. Here is the reference that I found to it, on Bill Reque's Gedcom on Rootsweb.com

I was also able to find a little more information on Elisha in a book, pertaining to when he moved to Ohio.

History of Noble County, Ohio
L.H. Watkins
pgs: 315, 320, 363

The following is a list of the holders of real estate in Olive Township in 1820, taken from the Morgan County tax duplicate for that year: ...Israel Spencer...Elisha Spencer...

Israel Spencer and his brother Elisha, William Waggoner and Michael Shriver were early settlers in the same neighborhood. The Spencers came from Pennsylvania. Israel carried on distilling for some years. Elisha moved west. William Waggoner died here about 1830. Michael Shriver operated a still. Whisky making was one of the most profitable of the early industries, and many engaged in it. In 1830 five distilleries are known to have been in operation in the township, the two already mentioned and those of Israel Blake, Isaac Devore and William Free. Nehemiah Spear soon afterward engaged in the same business.

Elisha Spencer settled south of Sharon, on land now owned by Mrs. Kelly. His brother Israel lived in Olive Township. Both sold out and removed.

From the research of others, it looks like Elisha's parents were James Spencer and Elizabeth Shirley, and they had at least 5 children. Elisha's older brother was Israel, and I'm currently researching him in an effort to find more info on their parents and the rest of the family.

There is a grave for an Israel Spencer on Find-A-Grave.com, but I need to take some more time to confirm if it's the right Israel. I kinda don't think that it is the right one.

Well, I'll just have to try and do some more research. If you have any info or can point me in the direction of some good sources, please shoot me a message!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

35 years ago today, Raymond Clifford Wisner died on 10 June 1977, in Mt Shasta California. He was 77 years old. I never got to meet him, but in the last year I was able to visit his grave for the first time.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

My son Nick had a family tree project this year in 3rd grade. I had been looking forward to helping him out with it, and it was also a good excuse to print out a poster of all of his direct relatives. Since I'm always finding new info and adding names to my database I am hesitant to print a lot of charts, but it was definitely justified for this project, and it was also the most extensive chart of the whole class. It was 6 feet tall. All of his friends in class were impressed. The chart only counted for about 5 points of the total, so it's not like he had an advantage by me helping him with it.